


Inheritance

by katiyohanna



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Age Difference, Alpha!Dean, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, M/M, True Mates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-30
Updated: 2014-03-01
Packaged: 2017-12-31 00:03:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1024959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katiyohanna/pseuds/katiyohanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On his way home from work, Castiel finds an injured dog next to his doorstep. Helping the animal leads to meeting Dean Winchester - a younger man with beautiful features and a fiery heart. But Dean isn't the only change in his life when some family secrets are revealed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first attempt at fan fiction EVER, please be gentle with me! This is still very much a work in progress and I still don't know where I exactly want to take this story (though I do know that I'll probably end up with mature or explicit rating, if you catch my drift, *wink wink, nudge nudge*). Bear with me.
> 
> Also, I am not a native English speaker and all the mistakes I make are entirely my own. Sorry in advance.
> 
> Comments are much appreciated, how else am I going to know how to improve?

 

>  
> 
>  
> 
> _I don’t know how you are so familiar to me—or why it feels_
> 
> _less like I am getting to know you and more as though I am_
> 
> _remembering who you are. How every smile, every whisper_
> 
> _brings me closer to the impossible conclusion that I_
> 
> _have known you before, I have loved you before—in another time,_
> 
> _a different place, some other existence._

 

-Lang Leav, Soul Mates

 

\---x-x-x---

 

It’s pretty rare to just meet someone and be able to tell that they’re _the One_.

It’s rare, but not unheard of.

Of course, there are the stories of love at first sight. Of those long, meaningful gazes shared when the whole world stops and only has room for two people. How those two people find their missing half, share a kiss in the rain and live happily ever after. How it might be difficult, full of dangers, frowned upon, but how in the end true love always wins.

Y’know, the stuff found in Disney- movies and young-adult literature.

Or in Broadway musicals, Shakespearean plays, pop songs, or-

Yeah, his point was that it might exist in fiction, and if you squint your eyes really really hard, even in real life. And it was a romantic notion, one that was such a cliché but so very powerful even just as an idea, that it was worth believing in, even if you happened to be very much the cynic.

But it would never be true in his life.

 

 

 

\---x-x-x---

 

Castiel shut down his computer in his office and peeked around his shoulder to see what the weather was like outside. Only mildly surprised to see that it had gotten dark already, he grabbed his bag and coat and headed home.

The walk from the station to his apartment was chillier than usual – a sign that the summer had indeed passed – but worked nicely as an intermission between work and free time. After a long and hectic day, he could finally spare couple of thoughts for himself and plan his first free weekend in ages. There was a nice art gallery around the corner of his home that had advertised a new art show from some young artist that he could go to. Some culture in one’s life was never a bad thing, right? Or maybe he’d go and visit Anna’s family. Castiel’s nephews never got tired of hearing his slightly exaggerated stories of how he had caught the bad guy of the week, and if looked up as a hero didn’t boost up your ego and thus mood nicely, nothing would. 

But first he had to get home and think about tonight’s late dinner. His fridge was probably more or less empty, but perhaps there was something in the freezer? Though he was more than ready to just fall into his bed with an empty stomach if his kitchen didn’t have anything to feed him. Oh God, maybe the guys at the station were right after all and he needed to relax a bit more, work was starting to tire him out big time. 

Rounding the corner to his apartment building, keys already hanging from his fingers, Castiel quickened his paste and hopped up the stairs leading to the door. He was reaching for the lock with the key when he heard it. A small whimper.

Glancing around and even going as far as bending backwards to look behind his landlady’s ridiculous plotted plants on the stairs and not seeing anything out of the ordinary, Castiel resumed to opening the door. Maybe he had just imagined the sound.

This time he managed to get the door open before he heard it again. Definitely a whimper. 

Was someone’s pet hurt and lost? It had to be some sort of an animal, whining to get noticed and thus was probably hurt. There was no-one else around this late at night who could deal with the situation. Damnit, Castiel had just wanted to get to bed and sleep for at least twelve hours, any added drama was not exactly welcomed. 

“Umm, here, here, doggy? Or kitty or what the fuck you are. C’mon, where are you?” He tried, and managed to coax more whimpers from the still hidden animal. Listening closely, the sounds seemed to be coming from the overgrown bush next to the stairs. Castiel left his bag in between the door to keep it from closing and slowly made his way to the bush. 

“Okay, just remember that you are kinda asking for help here – or at least I think you are – and I’m a good guy, so don’t attack me or anything, okay, buddy? I’m here to help-“ Castiel kept talking all the way to the presumed hiding place of the animal, trying to calm it, and at this point, more importantly, himself. Getting attacked by some possibly dangerous lost pet was not what he needed in his life now, but he couldn’t just leave the poor guy alone. He had a heart after all, even if some of the guys at the station liked to joke on the matter.

Slowly bending over and moving the branches of the bush aside in order to spot the animal, he gasped. It was a dog, but definitely not the average pet. No, this one was more like a wolf – and quite a large one too, how on earth was an animal that size able to sneak into the city? In a slight panic mode, Castiel retreated back to the stairs, ready to bolt. A dog that size could easily snap his head off and eat him in a bite! No thank you, he wasn’t about to risk his health dealing with a possible wolf, no way. 

He quickly got back to the door, picked up his bag and stepped over the threshold, but the whimpering seemed to get louder, stopping Castiel in his tracks before the door had time to slam closed. Damnit. Why did he need to be this god damn caring? Even the idea of a scared and hurt dog outside alone for a minute longer broke his heart. There better be a heaven and he better be going there for his good deeds if the wolfish animal ended up ending him.

Castiel ran the stairs up to his apartment, threw his bag and trench coat onto the floor and ran into his bathroom. Quickly grabbing some towels, he ran back downstairs and outside, once again approaching the bush while quietly assuring both himself and the dog that this was a good thing. 

He held the towels in front of him, as if they would work as a shield if the dog decided to attack. Carefully moving the branches, he took a small, hesitant step closer to the animal to take a closer look. 

The dog suddenly lifted his head and growled low in his throat at Castiel. Castiel’s natural instincts took over and he sprang backwards. If the animal didn’t want any help, there was no way for him to do this without getting hurt. However, after the initial shock, the dog calmed right down and resumed to his whimpering. Now that Castiel could actually see him, he couldn’t help the sharp intake of breath that escaped him. The dog’s back leg was covered in blood, and by the sounds it was making, it was probably its own. Castiel couldn’t see a cut or anything else that would have produced the blood, but clearly there was something wrong. He gathered his courage and once again approached the dog – very slowly and all the while talking calmly. This time the dog quieted down as if he was listening and waiting. He just kept staring at Castiel, but didn’t seem too threatened anymore – and most importantly, didn’t seem threating anymore. 

Feeling like he’d gained the approval, Castiel bend further down and carefully touched the dog, already accepting the possibility of losing of a limb, but thankfully the canine didn’t seem to mind. Castiel started to pet it with a towel, trying to assess the damage. After a while he concluded that the dog had probably been hit by a car or something, causing it to most likely break his leg. Should he go and get his phone and call an animal hospital or something? Yes, that seemed like something he should do. A good idea. 

He slowly got up and backed away from the dog but it suddenly became desperate. It tried to get up, increased the volume of his whimpers and generally looked even more miserable. Castiel looked at the brown wolf-dog and its erratic behavior first with terror, until he figured that he might’ve gained its trust and now it was afraid that he was going to leave it. He got on his knees next to the dog and it calmed down almost immediately. 

“Shh, boy – or a girl, how would I know – I’m just trying to do right by you, okay? It’s late and I can’t really help you by myself.” Castiel mumbled, perhaps more to himself than to the animal. “I’ll need to call for help, there is no way – “ As if the dog had a panic attack, it thrashed a bit and very painfully got onto its feet. Keeping the bloody leg up in the air, it whimpered and nosed Castiel gently into his shoulder. Castiel, who was now sitting on the ground because he had only managed to fall on his ass while trying to scamper away from the beast, patiently counted to ten before deciding it was safe to breathe and move again. Luckily the animal seemed to consider him as a friend.  Good thing too, because now that it was - sort of - standing and Castiel could really see its full size, and it was a BIG dog. When Castiel got to his feet, the dog’s head reached his shoulder and he didn't need to bend down in order to look the animal straight into its hazel-brown eyes.

“O-okay? You can stand? You going home?” Castiel tried hopefully, but the dog kept on whimpering and staring at him with its big eyes.

“Well, I’ll just run up to my place and call someone, okay?” As if the animal had understood, it nosed Castiel again. “just… stay put, okay? I’ll be right back.”

As Castiel slowly backed away, the dog seemed to become more desperate. And when Castiel reached the stairs, it hopped after him with its three functional legs. 

“NO NO NO, you! Stay! I’ll be right back with a phone, trust me.” 

But the dog was determined now not to let Castiel out of its sight. It had a sudden boost of energy and limped up to the door so that Castiel couldn’t go through it without letting it in at the same time. The back leg must have been really painful, but the wolf-dog apparently thought that the best and safest place to be right now was with Castiel.

Taking couple of minutes to think this through, Castiel finally let both of them in. His Landlady would kill him if she ever saw a dog that size in the building, but luckily it was too late for any of the residents to be out and about.

The dog sniffed the air and the floor and made its way to the stairs, slowly starting to climb up them. It must have scented where Castiel lived then, huh, kinda cool. When they got to his apartment on the second floor, Castiel let the dog in, thinking that if it wanted him dead, it would’ve already aimed for the jugular and he would be lying in a puddle of his own blood on the sidewalk. If the dog trusted him, maybe he could trust this horse-sized pet.

The dog took a quick look around, sniffed around for a while and slumped down on Castiel’s kitchen floor. Castiel gathered the towels he had and an old sheet that he found and placed them around the animal. He very gently tried to see if there was something that he could do to help with the leg, but there was no wound or anything that he could see and that would need closing. Weird, seeing how there was a lot of blood. He placed a bowl of water next to the dog’s head and it gulped the water down like it hadn’t drunk in days. Which was quite possible, now that Castiel thought about it.

After constructing possible scenarios in his head for a while, Castiel snapped back to the reality of the situation. He headed for his bag to dig up his phone and to call  someone who actually knew what the fuck to do in this situation. He had a bloody monster-sized dog in his kitchen! Not normal, not normal at all, at least for him. Again, as if the animal could understand and didn’t like the idea, the dog began to whimper loudly when it saw the phone. It scrambled to its legs, which was starting to worry Castiel more and more: it couldn’t be good for it to use all that energy and stand with only three legs.

Castiel made a move towards it in order to calm it down, but was stopped short when the doorbell rang.

Oh fuck. As if the situation wasn’t complicated enough, his landlady or one of his neighbors must have noticed that something wasn’t right. The dog was loud, after all. Fuck, now what should he do!

Surprisingly it was the dog that decided the course of action and as quickly as possible hopped to hide in his bedroom, completely quiet. Castiel gathered the now bloody towels and threw them in after him, the dog now trying to hide behind his bed and under the towels. Strange. Was it from an abusive home and had to hide every time the doorbell rang or something? 

Castiel took a calming breath and checked himself: no blood or other visible signs on him that something was out of the ordinary. 

Whoever was waiting for him outside his door had grown impatient and was now pounding at his door quite violently. Castiel figured that the longer he waited the more likely the person was to just kick in the door, so he ran to the door and yanked it open.

On the other side, a younger man, maybe about 18 or 19 years old - Castiel was always bad with guessing ages- and possibly one of the most breath-takingly gorgeous human beings that Castiel had ever seen, looked like he had been ready to bust through the door. The stranger was clearly angry, very angry, his breathing hard and baring his teeth, and for the umpteenth time that night, Castiel was scared for his well-being. He knew self-defense, he was a policeman after all, but the man looked like he was ready to rip Castiel’s head off with his bare hands. 

The stranger took a step towards him, stepping into his apartment, and grabbed Castiel’s shirt. And even though Castiel was pretty sure that his night would end up with a trip to the ICU – he just wasn’t sure if the patient in need of caring would be the stranger or himself or both– he couldn’t help but to notice the greenness in the feral eyes now staring right into his.

“What the fuck have you done to Sammy!” the man practically growled.

And now Castiel's Friday night had reached a whole new level of confusing.

 

 


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks to everyone who left kudos, commented or read the first chapter! I was super nervous that nobody would like it, but then I started to get kudos and couldn't stop smiling for three days. I just hope that you won't be disappointed with the second chapter, please leave comments telling me what you think!
> 
> Seriously, thank you!

 

Before Castiel had any time to react with anything else than a confused look on his face – Sammy? Now who the hell was that? And what did he have to do with Castiel? – the dog emerged from the bedroom, snarling threateningly. This drew the man’s attention from Castiel to the dog and now it seemed to be the stranger’s turn to look surprised.

The quick change from angry to surprised and finally to utterly confused was fascinating to watch, but also made Castiel realize that he was still staring at the man’s eyes, even when they kept on darting back and forth between Castiel’s face and the dog behind him. There was something mesmerizing in those beautiful, green eyes that had to hold some actual green fire in them; no way would they have been so expressive without actual flames in them. Yes, that had to be the only logical explanation to the flicker of different shades of green Castiel saw. There was something dangerous, but also gentle, beautiful but terrifying in those eyes. Castiel could probably write an entire epic about them that would be filled with ridiculous metaphors such as “as green as emeralds on a field of clovers” or y’know “green that had to hold some actual green fire in it”.

But perhaps he should move the manly poetry-reading in his head to a different time. Maybe to a time when he was a bit more sure that he still wasn’t about to get his teeth punched in.  Yep, that sounded like a good plan.

He grabbed the man’s forearm and yanked, freeing himself from the man’s hold. The stranger narrowed his eyes and pushed him aside with enough force to make him lose his footing and fall backwards to the floor. The sudden contact with the floor knocked the breath out of Castiel, but luckily didn’t hurt in any way. Well, his pride might have been a bit hurt because the shove hadn’t even been that hard, but the other man did have a slight height advantage and was also clearly more muscular than he was, so at least he had an excuse for his poor balance.

While Castiel was still contemplating the situation and trying to decide what to do next, the man slammed the door shut and stepped further into the apartment. This made the dog bark at the intruder, who now looked like he hadn’t seen a dog before in his life. He took a step towards it, but the dog limped over to Castiel to crouch over him in a protective position. Huh, at least Castiel had made a friend today.

The green-eyed man kept his eyes on the dog all the time, the look of confusion still fixed on his face. But now there was something else there too – sadness? Pity? No, something more like… worry?

“Oh fuck, Sammy what did you do - you jerk!” the younger man let out in a bark, and now he seemed strangely relieved too. The wolf-dog suddenly stopped its threating behavior, lowered its head and after a little while slumped to the floor with a small whimper.

“Shit, dude, stop moving! Just, let me...” the man said in what appeared to be a slight panic while he charged forward and basically slid to his knees next to the dog. Gently he prodded the injured leg and didn’t even flinch when the animal snapped at him. “Oh, stow that crap and let me look, you big baby!” and it looked like the dog understood. After turning its head to look at Castiel and deeming him uninjured, it lowered its head back to the floor and closed its eyes with a quiet whine. The moment seemed almost serene for a while, with both of Castiel’s uninvited guests now calmly hunched together on the floor, until Castiel remembered where he was and that there was something worth freaking about happening.

His mouth decided it was time to get some answers before his brain had time to catch up. “What the _fuck_?” Yeah, that seemed like a reasonable approach. Quite fitting to the situation at hand and most definitely polite enough considering that the man basically just invited himself in and shoved Castiel to the floor. “The fuck?!” he repeated for emphasis.

The intruder finally looked up from the dog’s injured leg and at Castiel, remembering that the guy he had just assaulted was still there. Both men locked their eyes at each other for a moment, trying to read each other, and Castiel was again taken aback by those goddamn eyes. Seriously, he was starting to get fed up with his inner monologue and lack of concentration; this was so not the right time to lose his focus over something as cliché as the most breath-takingly gorgeous eyes he had ever seen.

The dog let out a series of whines that pinned the man’s attention back to it for a second or two until he again returned to his mission of staring through Castiel’s skull, now with an apologetic look on his face.

“I, umm, I guess I should apologize.” He started, turning his eyes to the floor and running a hand through his sand brown hair. “I overreacted, but Sammy was missing and all the trails lead here and I thought…” The man seemed to have lost all of his energy now. Probably an after effect of the adrenaline rush and worry over this “Sammy”, who, if Castiel’s deduction skills were right, was the wolfish dog. “I thought that you…” he left the words open, leaning into the dog and taking a big breath.

Going from the other end of the emotional scale to the other in such a short time was a bit unsettling to witness, but Castiel could swear that the other man was close to tears now.

Okay, time to make some actual sense of the situation, now that there seemed to be no imminent threat anymore.

“So I gather the dog’s called Sammy then? He yours?” Castiel exhaled from the floor that was slowly starting to feel uncomfortable. Oh, yeah, the floor. He was still horizontal. Might be a good idea to get up. He concentrated on that task, almost missing the amused look on the stranger’s face.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that he’s mine.“ There appeared to be some inside joke in there somewhere that made the man smirk a little and the dog gave a low growl from where it was laying when the man patted its head with a grin on his face. “The little bitch ran away from home couple of days ago and I’ve been looking for him since.”

Castiel had now managed to get to his feet, but wasn’t sure what the best plan of action would be. “You’re not gonna attack me again if I move around, are you?” He asked trying to sound calm. “NO! No, I mean, I’m really _really_ sorry about that! It was just a panic reaction or something, I never should’ve done that and I only meant to make you step aside, not to push you to the ground! Seriously man, I’m sorry. I should be thanking you for saving him from the street and looking after him! I’ll owe you for the rest of my life or something, I – “ before the apology and/or thank-you could evolve into a full on ramble, Castiel interrupted him: “Okay, okay, just – calm down? I get that you were worried, no harm done.” he said while making his way to the kitchen sink to grab a glass of water or something else to do and to get some distance between the two of them.

The apologies seemed genuine enough, and Castiel briefly considered if there was a chance of brain damage. After all, it couldn’t have been normal to blindly trust anything that a complete stranger told him, right? Especially after a first encounter that involved shirt-grabbing and making acquaintance with the floor.  But somehow he really wanted to believe that the man was harmless, he would’ve already beat him to death if he wasn’t, right?

Actually screw water, he deserved something stronger.

 

\---x-x-x---

 

After finding the bottle of jack and taking a shot from it, Castiel had managed to slow down his heart rate considerably. The adrenaline from the surprise had already worn off, and the tiredness started to creep back in. Hopefully the stranger had enough tact to simply thank him, take his dog and go home so that Castiel could return to his original plans of sleeping and forget all the extra drama ever even happened.

Filling a glass with water, he returned to his guests. The man was having some sort of a staring contest with his pet, hazel eyes meeting green with weary determination, and only when Castiel cleared his throat the stranger turned to look at him.

“Here, I got you some water.” Castiel offered calmly, as if nothing out of ordinary had happened, and at the same time also offering the man a second chance at making a first impression.

“Oh!” the younger man got to his feet and took the glass from Castiel. “Thanks, I, uhm, I’m Dean, by the way. I just realized that it’s considered polite to introduce oneself.” He quickly glanced at Castiel, but mostly kept his eyes on the glass in his hands. There was a slight blush on his freckled cheeks, and Castiel had to stop himself from staring again. The blush made Dean look younger than before, giving him a boyish air and when he raised his head to give Castiel a waiting look, Castiel remembered that it is indeed considered polite to introduce oneself. “Nice to meet you Dean, my name is Castiel, Castiel Novak.”

That earned him a chuckle from the other man. Castiel had had enough jokes made about his name in high school, he didn’t think that the man who had barged into his home and now tried to get on his good side had any room left to be disrespectful towards him.

Apparently Dean noticed his slight scowl and train of thought, because his smile quickly dropped. “Sorry man, I didn’t laugh at you, I promise! It’s just that your wording kinda reminded me of James Bond, and I was just so relieved that you didn’t call the cops on me or something that I thought it was funny. Promise. Just the tension leaving the body” He explained in a single breath and on the next exhale continued “And there was a lot of tension, believe me.”

Now it was Castiel’s turn to smile and Dean seemed to relax more when he noticed Castiel’s expression. “No need to call the cops,” he said and rummaged through his pockets until he found his badge. “As I am one.”

Dean’s jaw dropped open but otherwise there was no immediate reaction, which Castiel hoped was a sign that the man was not a criminal.

“Dude, that is awesome! I really wanted to be a policeman when I was a kid, I mean, all boys do right?” The boyish edge came back full force and the excitement Dean was now showing gleamed in his eyes before he composed himself. “So uh, yeah. Me and Sammy will get right out of your hair, I’ll just need to call my dad that I found him and he’ll come and pick us up.”

A low growl came from behind Dean and both men turned to see the dog baring his teeth. Dean took a firm step closer to it and the animal quieted down but kept on staring at Dean angrily.

“You two seem to have a good communication going.” Castiel observed and it was hard to not see the love between Dean and Sammy, even if most of their interaction had been growls and huffs so far. Obviously Dean took good care of his dog, and the animal clearly trusted Dean.

“Yeah, we’re family, y’know?” Dean said softly and leaned down to pet the dog. “It’s me and Sammy against the world, we take care of each other no matter what.” Castiel wasn’t sure if Dean was talking to him or to the dog at this point, but when the dog raised its snout and rubbed it into Dean’s neck Castiel could feel his heart get warmer from the show of affection.

Dean stood back up and after some tapping to locate his phone, he found it in the pocket of his leather jacket. He set his jaw in a tight line and walked to the apartment door. “I’ll just make that call, and be right back, okay?” he waited until Castiel nodded and stepped into the corridor to talk.

Since Castiel was left alone with Sammy, he sat down on the floor next to the dog and gently petted him, waiting for Dean’s return. Soon Dean was back and sat down on the other side of Sammy, but the dog suddenly decided that it preferred Castiel’s company and shimmied closer to him and thus farther away from Dean, as if it was pouting. Dean exhaled in defeat, and frankly Castiel found it all adorable. It was as if Dean and Sammy were little kids after a fight.

“Yeah, Sammy’s not a big fan of dad, their communication is not as flawless as ours” Dean sighed. “He knows that he’s coming to get us, and is not happy.”

“Smart dog, isn’t he? Not all animals can understand enough to make that kind of connection.” Castiel complimented, happy to have found something to talk about.

“Well, I personally think Sammy is the smartest of everyone I know, but he can be so fucking stubborn from time to time that it takes away some of his charm.”  Dean snorted and again, as if the dog had understood, it huffed in protest.

Castiel gave Dean a small smile “I think it makes him more charming actually. Gives him more personality. It’s good not to be completely submissive; everyone’s got to have a mind of their own.”

Dean looked up from Sammy to Castiel and Castiel was sure that he was blushing under Dean’s intense gaze and somewhat serious half-smile.

“Agreed.”

\---x-x-x---

 

After a twenty minute wait and some nice, mindless conversation, during which Castiel found out that Dean was actually bit older than he had originally assumed (20 instead of 18), worked for his uncle as a mechanic and lived with his family, Castiel opened his door to a scruffy looking older man wearing a dirty baseball cap.

“Sorry ‘bout all the trouble, I’m here to pick up Sam.” the man grunted and stepped past Castiel to where Dean was standing next to the dog.

“I’ll take this idjit back home, you follow in the impala, alright? You left her somewhere around the corner?”

“Yeah, she’s parked close.” Dean answered and after wrapping the animal with a blanket that Bobby had brought with him, he turned back to Bobby with tired eyes. “Thanks Bobby” he said with real gratitude in his voice and Bobby clasped his shoulder. “We’ll sort this through, don’t you worry.”

Wasting no more time than that, Bobby scooped Sammy up gently and carried him away after a final thank you to Castiel.

As he was closing the door behind the man and the dog, Castiel was already planning how to ask Dean to keep in touch without sounding like a total creep. He had truly enjoyed their idle conversation, and the fact that Dean looked like a dream come true certainly didn’t hurt. Maybe asking to hear from Sammy’s healing process was a good excuse to exchange contact information? And he really was concerned for the dog’s well-being, so he wouldn’t even need to think about it as just an excuse.

When Castiel returned to the kitchen table, next to which Dean was currently standing, Dean was already holding out his phone for Castiel.  “If it’s okay with you, could you give me your number? That way I can tell you how Sammy’s doing and send you something as a thank you? Only if you’re cool with it, of course.”

“No need to send me anything, I assure you it’s fine. But I’d like to hear about Sammy” Castiel smiled and saved his number to Dean’s phone. Dean smiled back and called his phone, which began to ring somewhere in the apartment. Castiel tried to see if he could pinpoint the location of the device, but decided that it could wait until Dean had left. He turned his face back to Dean, ready to give his good byes, but instead found Dean stepping right into his personal space.

Dean leaned in and before Castiel had any time to process what was about to happen, hugged him.

Suddenly getting his arms full of a beautiful man who also apparently smelled _very_ nice, made him thank whatever god there was. He immediately started to melt into Dean, being pulled towards Dean’s warmth, but stopped when Dean tensed. Dean drew in a deep breath and leaned away from him looking confused for a second, before diving back in and rubbing his nose into Castiel’s neck.

Castiel could feel himself getting hotter, and he knew that he must be blushing like a teen girl, but Dean nosing along his jawline felt absolutely amazing. There was no way he could even think about pushing Dean away, not even when his brain tried to tell him that he didn’t do things like this. Things like tilting his head back so that men he had met only an hour ago or so could get more room to press their face in. He needed all his conscious effort to keep from actually moaning aloud, but there was a pull in him that desperately wanted him to get closer to Dean.

As suddenly as it had started, the hug ended. Dean pulled away with a gasp and kept on looking at Castiel strangely. Dean was the one who started it all, so if the look was from going too far he was the one to blame, not Castiel. Sure, he hadn't exactly fought back (more like completely surrendered), but no way in hell was he going to feel guilty about throwing himself into the moment.

Maybe Dean had only just realized that he was necking with someone thirteen years older than him, and of course the problem could also have been that Castiel happened to be a man. Though he had been pretty sure that Dean had been sort of flirting with him before, so why would he freak out about that now?

Whatever the reason was, Castiel still felt very hot and the pull hadn’t gone anywhere. But now that there was some distance between them some sense of rationality had a chance to creep back to him and he managed to compose himself enough not to jump Dean. Dean, who was hesitantly walking towards the door and keeping his fiery eyes on Castiel, leaving him standing in the middle of the room.

“So, uhm. Yeah. Thank you. for everything. Once more. I really should get going, home, y’know, Sammy and dad and all that. So, yeah, thanks” Dean muttered with the same strange look firmly glued to his face.

Castiel’s mouth didn’t seem to want to work, but he managed a nod as an acknowledgement and with a final bye, Dean was out the door and gone.

 

\---x-x-x---

 

Whatever it was that had happened between them that night would normally have been pretty quickly filed under Castiel’s _nice to fantasize about but doomed to fail_ mental file, and he would have moved forward accepting that a guy like Dean would probably never actually contact him.

All would have fallen back into the same old routine, only if the heat that had come over him that night had left at the same time with Dean. Or even after a cold shower and a restless night. But the feeling only seemed to intensify with every hour, and when Castiel woke up on Saturday morning drenched in sweat and humping his mattress, he was fairly sure that it wasn’t a normal fever he was having.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once more: thank you for reading this!


	3. three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll keep on thanking everyone every time I post a new chapter, because I am seriously grateful for your comments and kudos. 
> 
> Thank you again!

 

 

Dying from an arousal induced fever – horny-fever? Fuck-fever? Castiel was pretty sure he got the naming rights, so he better figure out a fitting name − was going to be an embarrassing way to go, but there was no way in hell that he was going to visit a doctor. 

Though dying from the embarrassment of explaining his situation would probably be a much quicker way to die than to wait for his fever to finish him.

 

 

\---x-x-x---

 

On Saturday he had still been able to convince himself that his temperature was nothing to be worried about. People got sick all the time, even if he hadn’t since his teens (he was pretty proud of his immune system). If he happened to also have dreamt about his Friday-night visitor the previous night and woken up with a not-so-cool-for-his-age morning wood and humping his mattress, that was his own business, no one else’s. A grown man can dream. And a grown man can damn well enjoy those dreams.

But after a few times jerking off and a cold shower, he was starting to suspect that there might be more to his disease.

Had he been drugged? But when would anyone had had a chance to do that to him? Dean was the only one he could think of that could’ve somehow slipped something to him, but there hadn’t been a moment when Castiel hadn’t been carefully following his moves and they had only sat next to Sam and talked. There was no drug that could be transmitted through a hug into his body with results like these, was there? At least he had never heard of anything like that. Besides, Dean had had that aura of “right”, so Castiel was willingly going into denial that Dean could ever hurt him. No, he didn’t really think that drugs had anything to do with his condition. And they would most likely have worn off already if they did.

The problem had to be in his head. Human bodies just didn’t work like that, there was no logical explanation in biology for his constant arousal and from time to time he could swear that he felt… moist. Down there. Where he definitely shouldn’t be feeling anything like that, at least not without any self-added liquids.  Had his ridiculous work hours and lack of social life finally made him snap? Dean being the trigger somehow?

Ah fuck, even thinking about something as complex and mind-fucking as Freud’s possible explanations for his horniness was doing nothing to alleviate the burn and arousal.

So this was it. First he was going to go completely insane and hump everything that he possibly could, and then he was going to die.

Not exactly how he had imagined his final hours.

\---x-x-x---

 

Castiel jolted awake to the sound of his doorbell ringing.

He must have finally managed to fall asleep from the exhaustion, and a quick look at the clock confirmed that he had gotten luxurious forty minutes of sleep. The night between Saturday and Sunday had been torturous, and he had only gotten two hours of actual sleep before he had woken up to deal with the heat coursing inside him. Now it was Sunday afternoon, and he was more than ready to fill his bathtub with ice cubes and sleep there to escape his exhaustion and aching.

That idea didn’t actually sound too bad, maybe he could try it out. How long would it take to make that much ice in his freezer? Maybe he could come up with something to –

There it was again, that loud, grating, ringing sound. Sounded familiar, and Castiel was certain that he had heard it before.

The doorbell! Yes, that was it!

And he had been worried for his sanity, hah! He could still solve puzzles as hard as this.

The doorbell kept on ringing, and that meant that there was someone on the other side of the door, waiting for him. He needed to get to the door and open it. That’s how it worked. Good brain, excellent work figuring that one out.

He was already half way to the door when it hit him. There was someone outside his door. Right now. Wanting to communicate with him. And he was currently very much naked, covered in bodily fluids, and definitely not ready to meet anyone. Some blood rushed into his brain, shaking away the remnants of sleep, and Castiel could finally form some coherent thoughts again. Good thing too, because the panic that overtook him made him scramble back to the bedroom to look for something to cover himself up with before doing anything that would scar him and his visitor for life.

“Just a minute” he croaked as loud as he could, and apparently the person in the corridor heard him, because the ringing stopped.

“Cassie? You okay?”

“Give me a minute!” frantically trying to clean himself with a wet towel, Castiel succeeded in wiping away most of the sweat, cum and whatever that clear fluid was that kept on trickling down from between his legs.  Clothes were out of the question, but since he had to cover himself somehow, he snagged his bedspread from the floor and wrapped it around his body.

A look in the mirror later, he took a deep breath and tried to will his erection down, failing for what had to be the millionth time now. Trying to keep at least some of his dignity intact, Castiel only opened his door enough to see - and most importantly only to be seen - through a narrow crack.

“Cassie, for god’s sake, don’t _ever_ scare me like that! I −or actually we− thought you’d been murdered in your sleep or something!” Castiel’s older brother half yelled, half smiled. “I was about to go ahead and break down your door.”

“I’m fine Gabriel, just down with a flu or something, no need to fuzz” Castiel reassured, even though he was still very much freaking out himself.

“Yeah, you don’t look that good, bro.” Gabriel helpfully noted while trying to push him aside so he could step inside, only to be blocked by Castiel.

“Sorry, it’s just that I’d rather be left alone now and try to sleep. Plus the place is a mess.” Mess of used tissues and the smell of sex in the air, and those Castiel would be happy not to share with his brother. The burn was starting to get insufferable inside the bedspread and even if he did appreciate his family’s worry over him, he needed to be alone with his body right now. Still he couldn’t help to ask “Why the sudden visit anyway?”

Gabriel took a hesitant step backwards and looked at Castiel with worry “It’s Sunday, five pm.”

Damnit, the family dinner. The Novaks gathered together at least once a month to eat together, and Castiel had completely forgotten to inform any member of his family that he would be unable to attend this time. His overprotective mother had most definitely had a minor heart attack when he didn’t show up and didn’t answer his phone.

The dawning understanding must have shown on his face, because Gabriel let out a quiet chuckle. “Yep, Man, I love you, but I love mom’s cooking more. They sent me here to make sure you’re still alive when you were an hour late, but I’d like to get back to stuffing my face. So if you’re still able to stand on your own, I’ll make my exit and tell mom that you’re still breathing, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course. Sorry about all this, my phone must have died or something.”

“Don’t sweat it, I’m just relieved that you’re still with us, even if you look like you aren’t. Stay cool bro.” Gabriel said and turned around with a ridiculous spin. When he was already going down the stairs, Castiel found his voice again.

“Gabriel!” he exclaimed. “Just, uhm.” He had to say something, what if this really was the last time he ever saw his brother. “Thank you.  For coming to check up on me. It’s nice to know that someone cares.”

“No problemos. See ya Cassie!”

\---x-x-x---

 

Three hours later Castiel wasn’t feeling any better, even if he had fallen asleep for an hour after Gabriel had left. He had enough sense in him to message his boss that he wouldn’t be coming to work for a couple of days, and to plug in his phone so that he could be connected if it was absolutely necessary.

Which it apparently was, because his mother had already called him five times within the last half an hour. He hadn’t been able to pick up while having a more “intense episode” of his fever going on. That would have been a phone call that made him unable to look his mother in the eyes for the rest of his life. So he decided that she could wait for a while, and he could just tell her that he had been in the shower or something. It was without a doubt better than answering mid-moan.

When he finally could breathe relatively normal again and answered her next call, there wasn’t even a gap long enough –unsurprisingly – for him to say hello to her. Becky was on full on overprotective mother mode, and was determined to make her “baby” better by asking all sorts of ridiculous questions about his illness. Questions that were seemingly normal like “what kind of symptoms do you have” and “have you been able to eat anything?” to somewhat weirder ones like “Who have you been with lately that could have given you this fever of yours?” as if she was personally going to hunt down the person who had made her youngest suffer.

After some very vague answers from Castiel and an odd silence from Becky, her tone changed. Castiel’s mind had already begun to wander back to NC-17 material, especially since he had told her mother the main points of his encounter on Friday, a line of thought that brought back the memories of the physique and beauty of a certain young man, and he was thinking of ways to end the call without sounding suspicious. But as it turned out, Becky was the one who ended up being mysterious.

“You said that there was a big dog? Big dog and a boy called Dean?”

“Yeah, mom, there was. But don’t worry, nothing weird happened. They went home and I went to bed. And if it’s okay with you, that’s what I’d like to-“

“This is important. Did your fever start when you met them?”

Now that was an odd question, especially considering that it was kind of exactly what had happened. Though not the exact moment when he had met them, just after when Dean had hugged him. “Mom, how did you-“

“It did, didn’t it. Oh my god, baby, you’re going to be fine, you’re going to be fine, you need to-”

“Mom, what are you-“

“Just try and… survive a bit longer. Keep drinking and stay home, don’t let any strangers in, and-“ Becky rambled on, clearly panicking over something.

“MOM! Take a deep breath.” Castiel’s own panic was starting to spike. “What the heck is going on?”  His mother was a nurse, maybe she had been able to diagnose him over the phone or something. “Seriously, you’re starting to freak me out, talk to me.”

“Oh darling, we need to talk. After you’re all better again, which you will be in a day or two, trust me. Right now you need to… take care of yourself in private.”

If it was possible, Castiel would have exploded from embarrassment. It sounded like Becky knew. Knew what had been going on with his body for the last two days. Knew what he had been doing. “Mom, do you…? What? How?”

“It’s alright honey, no need to explain anything right now. Keep calm, I promise you there is nothing to worry about, I’ll explain everything after, well uhm, when you’re feeling like yourself again.” Even if she tried to convince him that there was nothing to be worried about, it sure didn’t sound like it. But even though his mind was now filled with questions, his body was still burning hot and he had the feeling that this phone call couldn’t last much longer.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but we will have that talk. You have to promise me.” It was getting harder to concentrate on talking. “I need to go, mom. Promise me.”

“I promise. As soon as possible. Call me when you think you can go outside again. You’ll be fine, it’s going to pass soon. I love you.” Becky said, ending the call and leaving her youngest to deal with his condition with cumulating confusion. She better have a great explanation, Castiel sure as hell wasn’t going to go through this ever again in his life.

 

\---x-x-x---

 

The night between Sunday and Monday wasn’t too bad compared to the previous one, but he still woke up exhausted after three and a half hours of sleep. Feeling slightly better than the day before, Castiel really hoped that his mother had been right and he would be back to normal in a day or two. The burn was undeniably still there, but it wasn’t as hard to find other things to think about as it had been during the weekend. The need to fuck made some room for hunger, and eating something had to be the best idea anyone in the history of mankind had ever had.

His kitchen betrayed him. All he could find that was still edible was an apple, some dried bread and spaghetti, which he cooked and ate in an instant, not caring about the lack of sauce or flavor.  He really needed to start shopping for groceries more often. After devouring his early and unconventional breakfast, his stomach felt satisfied for now, but what was he going to eat for the rest of his “sick leave”? The closest supermarket wasn’t that far from his apartment, but he was still sporting the most persistent boner he had ever heard about, and his body was in no way under his control yet. 

 

\---x-x-x---

 

The solution to that problem came about five hours later, when he received a message on his phone.

_Sending a thank you –present. My brother should be behind your door in ten mins with it. –Dean_

Dean’s brother? Why send his brother, and not do it in person? Oh, it would be so nice to see Dean again and smell him again. Dean with his green eyes and nice body and−

Okay, his body’s reaction was more than enough to make Castiel grateful that Dean wasn’t personally delivering the present. It wasn’t exactly polite to jump people as soon as the door opened, and besides, it would be easier to simply thank for the gift and close the door if he didn’t know the person he was interacting with. With Dean he would want to talk more and ask about Sammy and invite him in and sit on his lap and kiss him until they both were a mess and then−

NO. No, he was not going to think about fucking Dean while talking to his brother, absolutely not. He was going to beat the burn this time, and was going to act like a normal person for the short while that he would be conversing with another person. He had been doing that for his entire life, how hard could it be.

Trying his hardest to keep his mind from thinking about green eyes and freckles, Castiel quickly took another cold shower and wrapped a clean sheet around his naked body, just in time to hear the doorbell ring.

He was feeling pretty confident and more in control of himself than he had been in what felt like eons. He could do this without making himself look like a complete pervert; he just needed to, well, not act like a complete pervert. Yep, He could definitely do this. Bracing himself, Castiel answered his door and found a teenage boy with a basket smiling at him.

Holy shit, the kid was already much taller than him, but couldn’t be any older than a teenager with a face like that. And what was it with the genes in Dean’s family, was everyone unnecessarily good-looking? Though this boy had something in him that made him good-looking in a different way than Dean. While Dean was all fire and sex, his brother was somehow much gentler looking. Was it that smile that was made from rainbows and happiness? Or the long hair and warm, hazel brown eyes?

“Hi, I’m here to thank you for what you did on Friday! We figured that you’d probably appreciate some food after a rough weekend, so we had a basket full of all the good stuff made for you.” Dean’s brother said, handing the basket in question to Castiel, who couldn’t help the appreciative sound that left him after the amazing smell from it hit him. His reaction amused his visitor, whose smile grew wider. “Good to hear that we chose the present well. Dean’s going to be happy to hear that you enjoyed it.”

The mention of Dean made something snap inside Castiel, and suddenly he could swear that he could _smell_ Dean on his brother.

Not good, not good at all. Considering his plan to not act like a weirdo.

His breathing grew erratic and the heat peaked impossibly high in a second. It’s almost as if his brain shut down on itself and let his body take over without a fight, and Castiel found himself reaching towards the teenager without realizing that he had even extended his arms. The kid was much faster than him, and grabbed his hands before Castiel could even come close to laying them on him. The smile fell from his face, and in its place there was a look that sort of reminded the face that Dean had had before he had fled his apartment three days prior.

“Okay, apparently this wasn’t the best way to do this after all. First things first, we need to get you back inside before you attract any unwanted attention.” Dean’s brother said with calm determination. “C’mon, in you go.” It didn’t take much to gently push Castiel backwards into his home and Castiel was more than happy to oblige if it meant that he could stay close to Dean’s smell. The younger man closed to door behind them and turned to look Castiel in the eyes.

Though his eyes weren’t like Dean’s, they still had a familiar feeling to them and Castiel could already feel some of the tension leaving hs body. Unlike Dean’s, these eyes were not made of fire and flames, but from earth and chocolate. They were unwavering and calm, and their calmness gradually seemed to seep into Castiel as well. The burn slowly became tolerable again as they simply stood and stared at each other for what felt like hours.

His visitor noticed the change and smiled again. “Good to have you back Castiel. You think that I can let go now without you losing it again?”

Castiel nodded numbly, and his hands were released.

“Good, I know that it’s hard, but try to stay focused for a while.” He told him before his brows drew together in thought and Castiel used the following silence to gather his own thoughts. “Maybe it’s best to start from the basics. Hello Castiel, I’m Sam Winchester, Dean’s little brother.”


	4. four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter than the others, because I wanted to post something even if I'm currently drowning in school assignments and didn't have time or inspiration to write more. I also couldn't decide how I wanted this chapter to go until last night, so if it seems a bit rushed, it's because it is.
> 
> Hopefully I'll have time to write the next chapter within a week, but if there's no chapter before December, it just means that I'm too busy with school. (Argh, I hate deadlines so, so much!)
> 
> Sorry! 
> 
> Also,THANK YOU again, you lovely readers, you genuinely brighten my day(s)!

 

 

Sam?

Sammy?

Sammy like the dog? 

Why would anyone name their dog after their own family member? Though both Sams had the same eyes. That’s why they had seemed so familiar, Castiel understood that now. Also the color of this human-Sam’s hair was identical to the fur color of the dog. And if he wasn’t ninety-eight percent sure that he was imagining all of this, they even smelled (Fucking _smelled_. Castiel was either dreaming or insane) almost exactly the same. Kinda sweet, comforting, the smell of safe and home with that intoxicating undertone of Dean. 

Speaking of Dean, he really, _really_ could use some privacy. Sam might have been able to bring him down from the high that he had been riding when he detected Dean’s smell, but his body needed some attention nevertheless, and the next wave could hit any moment now. And he’d prefer to be alone with his fantasies when that happened.

But now Castiel’s imagination had gotten the chance to run wild, and his thoughts kept coming back to the younger Winchester brother and the dog. How the fuck could they be so similar? His mind needed to choose whether it wanted him to masturbate himself to death or to figure out the connection between those two, and luckily for the situation, the latter option had a winning edge, making the heat inside him manageable.

Castiel’s eyes darted around the room, looking for a way away from Sam, he couldn’t deal with all these crazy, irrational thoughts now. He needed to get some place quiet so he could sort his thoughts and where he could be alone with his urges when they came back. He needed Dean with him, not Sam, even if Sam was safe and nice and comforting, he needed to –

“Dude, you’re starting to panic. I need you to breathe.” Sam was suddenly very close to him, and Castiel felt even more trapped. His body froze and he had trouble breathing.

Oh god, where could he run? He had let a stranger into his apartment when he was already vulnerable. A mean voice in the back of his head reminded him to listen to his mommy the next time, like any good over thirty years old boys should, and not to let any strangers in when he was nearly completely defenseless.

“I swear to you, I’m not going to hurt you. Listen to me, Castiel. _Castiel_.” Sam put his hands around his face and tilted Castiel’s face towards his own. “Listen. I’m a friend. I won’t do you any harm. Breathe and listen to your instincts, you already know that I’m someone you can trust, don’t you?”

And there it was again. The calm that flowed into him from Sam’s words and eyes and Castiel could breathe again. And even if he probably was going to have to sign himself in a mental institute somewhere, he did somehow get the feeling that Sam was not a threat. That Sam was safe.

The fuck, brain?

“Trust me and trust your own instincts, alright? I can help you. With your… condition and everything else. But only if you trust me.”

“W-what?” Castiel managed weakly, still trying to catch up with everything. “What’s happening? Why… How…” he had no idea how to end those questions. How did Sam know about his condition? How could he help? Why did Castiel trust him so easily? Why the hell his every goddamn sense was on overdrive and he could fucking smell that Sam was safe?

Too many questions, how would he even know where to start.

Luckily Sam took the reins and led him to the couch and sat him down before he had any chance to run and hide. “Okay, relax. You’re fine for now, right? No desperate need to… y’know? You smell like you’re fine.”

“I _smell_ like I’m fine? Did you just fucking tell me that I _smell_ like I’m fine?!” Well, that was as good a starting point as any other, he guessed.

Sam looked a bit puzzled, “Well, yeah. I thought that you’d have noticed that smelling is pretty important by now. I mean, you looked like you were about to jump me when you caught a whiff of Dean on me. And you knew that there was nothing to fear when you smelled me, right?”

All that was true. It was true and terrifying and Castiel must be dreaming all of this.

“Smell is just a sense, a sense that you apparently haven’t used to full potential before, but it’s nothing weirder than seeing or hearing really well. A natural thing, nothing to worry about.” Sam offered him a small smile with the reassurance and tapped him on the shoulder. “There is nothing wrong with you. Or with me, for that matter. Now, relax and I’ll fetch you something to eat, okay? I have the feeling that you haven’t had enough nutrients the last couple of days and I don’t want you fainting on me.”

“But how? How do you know what’s going on with me? How can you tell me that it’s okay and that it’s normal? _Who_ are you?” Castiel yell-whispered (yeah, definitely a thing, whispering while yelling. Castiel was going to have to write his own dictionary at the rate he kept on discovering new things that needed names) at Sam’s back as the younger man made his way back to basket he had had to leave by the door when he had stepped inside.

“I will answer your questions the best I can, but please, eat something first. You’ll feel better and I’ll feel better if you don’t pass out from exhaustion or shock.” Sam lifted the cloth that was on top of the basket and revealed the best looking assortment of food that Castiel had most likely ever seen. And everything smelled absolutely mouth-watering. He reached for the tin-foil wrapped item on top of the selection and unwrapped it to find a burger inside. Not wasting any time to consider his manners, he took a big bite out of it and groaned from the perfect mix of meat, cheese, vegetables, condements and bread that couldn’t possibly have tasted any better after what had been basically two days of fasting.

“Ellen’s burgers are undeniably the best one can have.” Sam was now full on beaming at him. “Good to see that your appetite is already back, that means that you’re almost finished with your heat. You can control it now pretty well, can’t you? At least it seems so.”

“You have got to start making some sense soon, or I’m going to lose my patience.” Castiel snapped between bites. “Yes, I am feeling much better now, but please tell me that you did not just call… the thing _a heat._ “ What was he, a cat? “I should add that I am so not comfortable talking about this with a teenager.”

Sam chuckled. “Hey! I might be sixteen, but I think I’m your best opinion, considering that you seem to be utterly clueless about what is going on.” That thought made Sam’s chuckle die out and the warm smile was replaced with squinty eyes aimed at him. “You’re quite the mystery, y’know?”

“ _I’m_ a mystery? Try looking in the mirror.” Castiel huffed.

“Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that we both need to answer some questions.” Sam seemed to consider something for a while. “I’m not sure what I’m allowed to tell you. The idea was that I just drop some food for you and be gone. Dean was going to wait for a while and then start asking you stuff, but, well, it didn’t turn out that way. But no matter what, I think you deserve to know stuff that has to do with your heat. It’s your body after all.”

“Damn right it’s my body” Castiel mumbled like small child pouting while chewing his burger.

“I do know that, and I’m sorry that you had to go through all this like this, alone and stuff.” Sam sighed and seriously looked sorry for him. “I think I should call Dean while you eat, he can tell me the limits of what I can tell you.”

Codependent much? Sam was already sixteen, why the need to consult Dean? But, seeing as that was the least confusing aspect of Castiel’s day, he just nodded and reached towards the basket to grab a piece of pie to stuff his mouth with.

 

\---x-x-x---

 

While Sam took a longer time in the hallway with his phone than Castiel had expected, Castiel devoured almost everything that had been in the basket; two hamburgers, two slices of apple pie, some fruits and a salad, all of which were delicious and efficiently satisfied his hunger.

Now that his stomach was full and he was left alone on his soft and comfortable couch, he felt tired and safe enough to take a nap. Maybe, if he was lucky enough, everything would be back to normal when he woke up. He could go to work and forget about Dean and Sam, and definitely wouldn’t masturbate ever again. Okay, maybe he would, but not for a while.

Just as he closed his eyes, found a comfortable position, and managed to not think about anything, Sam stomped back into his apartment in a clearly agitated mood, mumbling about jerks and “stubborn, freaking alphas”. Whatever that meant.

Even though Castiel was feeling pretty damn good at this point; sleepy, full, and most importantly not horny as a rabbit,  he was going to start flipping tables and possibly other pieces of furniture if it took one second longer for him to start getting answers. Sam might look like he was ready to do the same thanks to that phone call, but that was not going to stop Castiel from finally making sense of everything.

“Okay, you said that I’d be getting some answers after your call, so start talking.”

Sam stared at him for a while, and with a sigh came to sit on Castiel’s coffee table opposite of him so that they could talk face to face. “For every question that you have, and that I can answer without stepping on Dean’s or Dad’s toes, I’ll ask you one, sound fair?”

With a firm nod and his best interrogation face on, Castiel wondered what Sam could possibly ask him. There was nothing exceptionally special about him.

Trying to decide on the best question to start with, he settled on, “you said that I’m, that uhm, I’m in _heat_ , didn’t you? What the hell does that mean?”

Sam’s cheeks turned a nice shade of pink at that and Castiel was secretly amused that his visitor had such a teenage reaction to something. “Uhm, yeah. It means exactly what I presume you already associate with that term. It’s pretty fitting as far as terms go, isn’t it? The body temperature rises and the need to, well, y’know, _mate_ becomes pretty insufferable for three to five days… Yours is almost totally over already after two days, which is by the way completely normal for first heats. They’ll get longer after the first year or so.” Sam poured out while staring at his feet, and Castiel was grateful that Sam didn’t see his dumbstruck face.

_First_ heats. He was going to have go through this again?

Oh no, no no no, not going to happen.

Castiel didn’t have much more time to process the information before Sam in his turn fired his first question. “Talking about first heats, how come you’re having yours now? You’re thirty-three, there’s no way it’s natural to be that much of a late-bloomer. I mean, I was a late-bloomer and only had mine two months ago, and that’s already two years later than usual.”

As if Castiel could answer that kind of a question, he had never even heard of humans having to go through literal heats before this conversation. Sam apparently understood that and changed his question, “Who are you, Castiel? Or more specifically, what are you?”

What was he? Okay, that sounded like something from a sci-fi show, what did Sam expect him to say? “I am Castiel James Novak, a policeman, brother and an uncle, and I am not entirely sure what you want me to say. Care to elaborate?”

“I take it that you are human? Or at least you think you are one?”

“Of course I’m a human! What, do I look like a horse or a – or a fish to you! What the heck do you mean, ‘you think you are human’?!”

“Okay, calm down again and take a couple of deep breaths, alright?” After Castiel complied and was back to his more relaxed self, Sam looked him deep into the eyes and blurted out, “Castiel, I am a werewolf. And all the evidence kinda says that so are you.”

 

\---x-x-x---

 

Wait.

What?

A werewolf?

Ha, should’ve remembered the whole insanity thing that was going on in his head. Funny stuff brain, really. Hilarious even.

(Maybe, just maybe, he should stop talking to his brain as if it was a person, that could probably help with all the going crazy –business.)

“Castiel? You’re zoning out and I’m starting to worry. You okay?” Sam leaned in closer, looking and smelling genuinely worried. “C’mon, talk to me, say something. I’ll even happily take all those clichéd ‘Funny joke, man’ or ‘I’m dreaming’ responses over this brain dead staring you’ve got going on.”

“I’ve lost it. I’ve really, seriously, finally, lost it. I’m insane.” Castiel said way too calmly and stared right over Sam’s left shoulder.

“Yeah, good, that’s another reaction I was sort of prepared for.” Sam nervously laughed. “Just, don’t freak out too much, but I think that you should know that you’re not insane. This is really happening and I really mean it. I’m a werewolf. And you sure as hell smell like one too.”

“Ha ha, that is exactly what my traitorous brain would say to try and mess me up more.” Castiel nervously laughed. He could at the very least try to fight back a little with words before he started to scream and jump. “I think I need a moment to figure out what is going on here for real.”

Sam relaxed a bit, but his eyes never left Castiel’s face. “Of course man, it’s just that… you believe me? Or you don’t? I’m still unsure what –“

“Sam. You really think that when someone tells you that there are _werewolves_ after a weekend of some pretty intense rediscovering of your body and its functions, and an exhausting Friday night with a strange young man who could’ve walked out of your dreams and a bleeding huge dog –“ The interrupting rant suddenly got stuck in his throat.

The dog. Dean’s big dog, with the same eyes and the same name as –

Castiel jumped up from the couch, pointing at his guest with wide eyes.

“You! You’re− I mean, the dog− and you −!”

Before Castiel could form a more coherent thought and an actual sentence, Sam stood up and stepped behind the coffee table shedding his clothes calmly as he went. He smiled almost apologetically at Castiel and with a deep breath crouched down.

After a few seconds, Castiel’s comically frozen hand was pointing at the dog he had rescued from the street just a couple of days ago.

 

 


	5. five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took me this long to post a new chapter!
> 
> (I've been super busy with school and Christmas and my friend is also going through a rough time, so I've been trying to help her as well.)
> 
> But anyway, here's chapter five, up just in time for Christmas (in Finland we celebrate on Christmas eve, so tomorrow's Christmas for me, yay)! I'm starting to annoy myself with the lack of actual Dean and Castiel communication and slow development etc, but hopefully I'll get the actual destiel part going soon, I just need to figure out couple of things first. Also, sorry that Castiel keeps on being so out of character and has all these mood swings, it'll get better, I promise.
> 
>    
> And as always, thank you so so SO much for reading, commenting and leaving kudos! You can't understand how much all that means to me!

 

Blank.     

                  

Castiel’s mind drew a complete blank.

 

Or it did for a whole thirty seconds or so, before the inevitable freak out finally found enough rational thought in his head to actually hit.

 

And if Castiel hadn’t been, well, freaking the _fuck_ out, he might have handled the situation bit more maturely.

 

But sprinting to your bedroom, slamming the door shut behind you, locking it and collapsing on the floor in front of it seemed like a damn brilliant way to approach a shock like this, and the complete collapse of one’s beliefs and world view.

 

Seriously, werewolves?

 

How was he supposed to react to something like that?

 

Hyperventilating, sitting against the bedroom door basically naked and pinching his eyes tightly shut in an attempt to convince himself that he hadn’t just seen a man turn into a dog – no, a wolf – didn’t really help, and even in his panicked state Castiel’s body was still trying its hardest to betray him; Sam’s smell found him through the door and again he could feel that small sparkle of _friend-safe-trust_ that Sam seemed to ignite in him. But this time it wasn’t enough to break his panic. Castiel had enough sense in him to make his mind accept the fact that no matter what he was feeling Sam couldn’t be trusted.

 

Sam. Who was a werewolf. And currently knocking on the bedroom door.

 

“Castiel? Are you… well I know this is a stupid question, but are you alright? You need to breathe, c’mon, I’m sorry I freaked you out, it’s alright, but you need to breathe before you pass out or something, okay?”

 

Breathing did sound like a good idea, except that he was already doing that. Doing too much of it actually. Shit, what was it that you were supposed to do when someone was about to have a panic attack? Or was he already having one? He would have known if it wasn’t himself he needed to help. He had just helped a nice lady with her breathing couple of weeks ago, what was it that he had done?

 

“Castiel, you with me? Fuck…” Sam’s smell was changing. It had had small signs of worry in it even before Castiel ran, but now the panic that Castiel was feeling only seemed to intensify as he caught the smell of distress and panic on Sam as well. After what could have been a minute or an hour, Castiel was completely losing it.

 

Oh god oh god oh god, his fucking body simply wouldn’t listen to him, he needed to calm down and breathe, he needed to –

 

“Cas? CAS! Castiel, you hear me?!”

 

Dean.

 

Dean’s voice.

 

Outside the door.

 

“Cas, I need you to calm down. Can you do that for me? Just listen to my voice and relax, you’re not in any sort of danger, okay? Try and take a deep breath, I know you can do it.”

 

Castiel tried to focus on his breathing while Dean kept talking, willing himself to draw a shaky, but gloriously deep breath. And then another. Oh thank god, he wasn’t going to die today after all.

 

“You doing it? He doing it Sammy?” 

 

 

Now that Castiel had regained some control over his body and brain, he slowly noticed something was missing in all this; it was Dean’s voice, but where was the smell? Dean’s intoxicating smell was missing.

 

“Yeah, he smells and sounds a lot better now. Still scared and stuff, but not panicking. Castiel, can you please answer us, are you alright?” Sam said through the door and Castiel realized that if Dean couldn’t smell or hear him like Sam did Dean’s voice must be coming through a speaker. Yep, that seemed logical. Now that he had a chance to actually pay attention to the quality of the sound, it definitely wasn’t as clear as Sam’s.

 

“Cas, please, say something, anything.” Dean pleaded as well, and Castiel had a sudden sense of wrong ran through him. Dean shouldn’t sound so worried and pleading. Dean should be happy and confident, not worried or sad. And especially not because of him, no, never because of him. “I’m fine” he managed to sigh out and he could hear both Dean and Sam breathe out a loud sigh of relief.

 

“Man, you scared me!” Dean started. “Here I was, ready to bolt to your apartment in my overalls! Would’ve probably ran over people trying to reach you as soon as possible. Do you have any idea how ridiculous my mug shots would have been? Oil and dirt on my face and…” Dean rambled on almost hysterically, and as Castiel kept listening to him and felt his muscles relaxing, he was hit with a sudden realization.

 

Dean had said that he was coming. Coming to him. But not anymore, no, he had been ready to leave, but hadn’t gotten that far.

 

Castiel yanked the door open, found a very startled, wide-eyed and thankfully once again dressed Sam kneeling behind his door with a phone in his hand, and ripped the phone from him before Sam even had time to process what was happening.

 

“Dean, Dean, I need you. Dean, please, come here. Dean, I – please, come – “ Some part of his brain tried to remind him that this is not something he does. He does not beg men to come and get him, especially not when there’s apparently a werewolf right next to him. But whatever the fire inside him was – a fricking _heat_ , seriously? How could this possibly get any weirder than that – it was controlling him again, and it wanted Dean to be there. Holding him, soothing him, filling the empty space he felt inside and satisfying the itch he couldn’t scratch.

 

Before Castiel could slow down his pleas enough to hear a reply from the other end of the line, Sam had caught on and tried to gently wrestle the phone from him. But Castiel wasn’t about to give up on this. No, Dean had said he was about to come. Come to him. Sam couldn’t stop him now, no way, he needed Dean to come. “Dean, please please please – “

 

“Cas, CAS!” Dean’s stern voice finally put a pause to Castiel’s begging. “Calm down. I mean it, you need to calm down and let Sam help you. I won’t do you much good right now, but I’ll stay on the phone, okay? I won’t leave you if you don’t want me to, I promise you that, but you need to let Sam talk to you. It’s not a good idea for me to come there, but it’s a fucking brilliant idea to let Sam explain.”

 

“But Dean, I –“

 

“You’re not yourself right now, y’know? I mean, your body might want me to come – no pun intended, heh, actually, that was a good one – but you’d probably regret whatever we did as soon as you’re back to being the regular you.”

 

Castiel didn’t care. His body was hot again, and he was definitely aroused. He was a grown man for god’s sake, he could have sex if he wanted to without having to regret it later. And Dean was an adult too. And on top of that he was gorgeous and seemed like a good guy, surely there was nothing holding him back? Everybody wanted sex, right? At least when there was a very willing partner waiting and begging for them. And Dean had been flirting with him, hadn’t he, so it wasn’t even a matter of sexuality this time.

 

The reason had to be Castiel then. He should have known. Why would a young, beautiful man like Dean want someone like him?

 

The rejection hit him hard.

 

Why was all this happening to him? He wasn’t some hormonal teenage girl, why were his emotions and body so easily shaken?

 

Castiel let the hand he was holding the phone in slowly lower towards his lap until Sam caught it and snatched the phone back. Through the numbness of rejection Castiel could hear Sam talking with Dean, but he felt too tired to react to anything.

 

Dean didn’t want him.

 

\---x-x-x---

 

Castiel woke up the next day in his own bed. All his muscles felt like lead and through the grogginess clouding his mind he couldn’t even remember why. 

 

Letting himself enjoy the peacefulness that appeared to be late morning, he stretched his limbs and reached for his phone to check the time. The phone wasn’t in its usual spot on his nightstand so he must have left it in his bag or the pocket of his coat. Castiel groaned in frustration. Now he had to get up to get it. Damnit.

 

Lifting his feet off the bed and pushing himself up on them, he began the excruciatingly slow trek to the kitchen and towards the coffee maker. But before he could get that far, he stopped in his tracks as he saw something unusual in the living room area.

 

There was a man sleeping on his couch.

 

Oh fuck.

 

Sam.

 

Yesterday rushed back to him and he had to quickly sit down on the closest chair if he didn’t want to collapse on his knees on the floor.

 

It was all real. Werewolves. heats. Sam. Dean.

 

Fuck.

 

He must have passed out sometime after talking to Dean and Sam must have put him in his bed to sleep all of it off.

 

Which was apparently a good thing since he hadn’t woken up with wet sheets and a hard on this time. A good night’s sleep must have done him good and the… the _heat_ must have passed. Hallelujah for small signs of mercy.

 

Dean’s rejection still stung though.

 

A groan from the couch drew Castiel from his musings. Sam turned on his make-shift bed, mumbled something and suddenly threw his eyes open in alarm. He scrambled to his feet and grouched down in a defensive pose before his eyes settled on Castiel. “Oh.”

 

“Oh indeed.” Castiel agreed and decided to get back to making his way to the coffee machine. There were things that just couldn’t be dealt without coffee first thing in the morning, and discussing whatever it was that had happened the day before and the whole werewolf thing were definitely on that list. Besides, there was no reason to panic, seeing that if Sam wanted him dead, he could’ve done that anytime he pleased. But no, the guy had carried him to bed, so there was some room for trust.

 

“You want coffee?” Castiel offered and Sam simply stood there staring at Castiel with a confused face for a moment before a quiet and unsure “yes please”.

 

Castiel figured that Sam could for once be the one who was left confused and calmly measured the coffee and water in the kitchen, clicked the machine on and leaned on the counter in wait. Sam made his way to the kitchen a while later.

 

“Frankly, I thought you’d be freaking out a bit more about all this. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy not to have a repetition of yesterday – you really scared me dude – but right now this calmness seems a bit, y’know, creepy in comparison to your initial reaction.”

 

Slightly annoyed that Sam could even speak that coherently just a minute after waking up, Castiel grunted and turned to pick his favorite mug from the cabinet. After pouring himself a steaming cup of the marvelous elixir called coffee and taking a sip, he finally turned back to Sam.

 

“I don’t know why I acted like I did yesterday. I’m usually more collected and in charge of myself, but something just… well, _burned_ inside me and I couldn’t control myself. So for scaring you, I am sorry. I assure you that I feel a lot better today and would like to have a more… relaxed conversation about the matter at hand.”

 

“You mean, about werewolves? More precisely about me, Dean, and…you?”

 

Castiel’s eyes widened in surprise and he managed to gulp down the mouthful of drink he had in his mouth instead of spitting it out in a comical arch.

 

“Oh, yeah” He turned his eyes to the ground in defeat “I kinda forgot that there was something… _werewolfish_ going on with me too, I was more focused on the fact that you have an animal alter ego.”

 

The silence that fell could’ve probably been awkward if both of them weren’t as deeply in thought as they were. After gathering his thoughts Castiel filled a second mug with coffee, lifted his eyes to Sam and nodded towards the kitchen table and they both sat down. “How about we start with the most pressing question – the heat is over, right? There’s not going to be more of that anytime soon?” Castiel asked while placing the mug in front of Sam.

 

Sam actually smiled a bit, “Yeah, you smell fine. If your cycles are regular you should get your next one in about three months, but since you’re a special case it might be different, I don’t know.”

 

Not exactly a reassuring thought, but it was at least nice to know when to expect the next masturbation marathon from hell. But back to getting answers.

 

“You said that you had your first heat recently? Two months ago was it?  So that’s a normal thing to experience then if you’re a werewolf or am I just a freak of nature? Though after saying that, it sort of dawned to me that of course I’m a freak of nature since I apparently am a werewolf” Castiel laughed sadly.

 

Sam seemed conflicted but nevertheless answered, “There are times when I consider myself a freak because of what I am, but it’s not really like that. I mean, c’mon, I’m not a monster! I can behave!” Castiel could see that Sam stopped before he could really get going on the monster ramble, and after taking a deep breath he continued, “But to answer your original question, yes, heats are normal. They’re normal for omegas, but alphas and betas don’t have to go through them. Not like we do.”

 

“Alphas? Betas?”

 

“Yep, our biological setup comes with three different settings that also affect the hierarchy in our packs. Betas are quite similar to humans as long as you forget the turning into a wolf bit and they’re sort of on the middle step in the hierarchy, above us omegas. Alphas are leaders. They take care of the omegas and betas, and also have power over us in basically all ways. You noticed that yourself yesterday, didn’t you? Only after I called Dean you were able to calm down. It was because as an omega you’re programmed to listen to your alpha. Luckily for you it was Dean who brought your heat on, otherwise you might’ve had a… different experience dealing with all this.”

 

“What does that mean? You mean that- “

 

“I mean that while you’re in heat your whole body wants you to mate. That means that you start to attract the attention of alphas whether you really want it or not, and there are some alphas out there who do not think omegas are worth much more than a good fuck.”

 

Castiel had a hard time swallowing this all. He had come down from the role of a respected police officer to, and there was no nice way of saying it, a bitch.  Great.

 

But hold on.

 

“Wait, if we go into heat, and, and alphas “mate” with us, does that mean-“

 

“If you’re going to end that question the way I think you are, then yes. You and me man, we’re meant to carry pups.”

 

Castiel’s jaw fell.

 

Wait what? As if everything wasn’t already straight out from a fantasy or sci-fi film, he as a MALE could get PREGNANT now?

 

“Dude, it’s not as bad as you think. We’re male omegas, the chances of male pregnancy aren’t very high, there are certain… criteria that has to be met in order for that to happen.”

 

“Criteria?”

 

“I think it’s best we get into details like that after we go through the more essential questions. Like how come you just now went into your first heat? And how can you not have known that you’re a werewolf, or at least somehow partly one?” Sam asked, even if it should have been obvious to him already that Castiel had no idea how to answer those questions.

 

Sam seemed to realize this and continued, “Well, your heat was definitely triggered by Dean. Maybe your wolf has been repressed somehow and it woke up when you came into contact with a suitable alpha. But what I –“

 

Castiel interrupted Sam before he could distract him from a question he had been thinking,

 

“You keep on hinting that there is something going on between me and Dean. And I think that you’re right, since - and I’m not saying this only to weird you out - Dean’s pretty much all I could think about the last weekend. How about you tell me what’s going on with us?” True, Castiel had felt a pull towards Dean since he had met him, but yesterday’s rejection was still there, eating him up inside. But even that didn’t mean that he didn’t want to know why Dean had such a strong effect on him now.

 

The look that Sam gave him as an answer was both happy and also kind of sad, and all Sam said on that matter was, “I think it’s best if I call Dean and we three continue this conversation as a group. Questions like your last one are not mine to answer and since Dean is the future alpha of our pack, it’s best if I don’t cross any boundaries he wouldn’t want me to cross. Besides, even without all the pack hierarchy, I think that Dean is the one that needs to explain certain things to you.”

 


	6. six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really need to stop trying to set up a deadline for publishing a chapter, life always gets in the way and I end up taking way too long to update :/ Sorry about that and about another shorter chapter! Maybe one day I'll get better with managing my time...
> 
> And guess what? THANK YOU! I can't believe the amount of kudos this story's gotten! Keep letting me know what you think, I love it and I love you!

 

 

Sam had wanted to call Dean in private, but Castiel insisted that he was done being left out of things that clearly involved him, and therefore made Sam call Dean right away while they were both still sitting at the kitchen table.

After informing Dean of the situation and expressing their need to talk with him in person, Sam and Dean seemed to get into an argument about the best place to meet. It was only after Castiel put his foot down and told Sam that he was not going anywhere and definitely not to the Winchester home (which seemed to be what Dean wanted) that Sam told Dean to meet them at Castiel’s apartment. He ended the call and took a sniff at the air and then leaned in closer and sniffed Castiel as well.

“You know, important sense and all that aside, I still find it really uncomfortable when you do that.” He said to Sam’s now retreating back.

“Sorry,” Sam said and managed to sound not even a bit apologetic.  “I guess that’s just something you’ll have to get used to now. It’s the most accurate and easiest way for us to know what’s going on, and it’s not like we can just shut it off.” Sam had reached the window next to Castiel’s television set and after a minute trying to get the lock open and ignoring Castiel’s muttering ( _somebody needs to learn the importance of personal space. And couldn’t you like pluck your nose, that would shut it off just fine.)_ he heaved itopen. Then he proceeded to do that to all the other windows in the apartment.

“Uhm, what are you doing?” Castiel finally asked after Sam had bend over to sniff his couch.

“You were just in heat, like less than twelve hours ago. And now there’s a… suitable alpha coming to talk to you. I’m just making sure that Dean won’t feel the need to jump your bones the second he takes a breath in here, because let’s face it, this place sort of reeks.” Sam straightened up and fluffed the pillows on the couch. “And not to be rude or anything, but I think it’d be best if you could take a shower before he gets here. Use some fragranced soap and shampoo, the stronger the fragrance, the better.”

Castiel lifted his arm to his face to smell himself. Ugh, maybe Sam was right, even without the added need to wash up because of his apparent sexy pheromones (yeah, those were a thing now, what had his life become?) and an approaching alpha, Castiel didn’t smell nice. He left Sam to deal with his apartment and went to take a glorious, warm shower and scrubbed himself until his skin was red. It seemed like ages ago since he last felt this clean, since all those cold showers during the weekend did nothing to actually clean him, and putting on some actual, nice clothes after the shower also felt pretty amazing after having had to wrap himself in a sheet for the last couple of days.

Just as he finished pulling socks on his feet, the doorbell rang and he could hear Sam jogging to open the door.

 

\---x-x-x---

 

Dean was talking in a hushed voice with Sam, but when Castiel walked into his field of vision, he stopped.

He simply stared at Castiel and Castiel stared right back at him, and again Castiel was mesmerized by those eyes. And not just the eyes, all of Dean was still as beautiful as Castiel remembered, and he could feel his face heating up from eye contact alone. If only Dean knew all the things he had fantasized about since their last meeting, maybe they could– No, actually, better he never found out, this whole werewolf business was weird and awkward enough without any added secret desires and kinks being voiced.

Besides, Sam had told him his heat was over! So why the hell was his mind still focused solely on Dean? As if he was drawn to the man, and not just on the physical level anymore, no. Even during their brief conversation last Friday, Castiel had thought that Dean was good company. Now his brain was trying to convince him that Dean was good in every way. That Dean would be good _for him_.  And in his hopeful mind, he could have sworn that Dean also seemed to be blushing slightly while raking his eyes over Castiel.  

Dean sniffed the air and seemed to be analyzing what he had just smelled.

“Good enough?” Sam asked him and Dean finally turned his eyes away from Castiel’s to nod at Sam. “Yeah, still pretty strong, but not too bad.”

“Good, I was worried that I’d had to wrestle your alpha ass out of here” Sam teased and gave Dean a little shove. “Wouldn’t have been the first time I kicked your ass.”

Dean looked at his brother and let out a small growl, clearly not in the mood for teasing. And that sound shouldn’t have made Castiel’s knees go weak in want, but apparently his body was now reduced to a one equivalent of a fourteen year old girl talking to her crush.

If Dean noticed the effect he was having on Castiel he said nothing of it. Instead he nodded in Castiel’s direction and smiled a little. “Hi Cas, nice to see you again.”

“I’d say likewise, but I’m not really sure what I’m feeling right now.”

“Yeah, I sort of expected that” Dean said almost submissively, running his hand through his hair and looking at the floor. “Maybe we should just… get this started? I mean, it’s going to be weird for all of us on some levels; maybe it’s better to just get it over with without any unnecessary postponing? Like ripping off a Band-Aid?”

Both Castiel and Sam nodded in agreement, and Castiel teared his eyes off of Dean’s and went to sit down in his armchair, leaving the couch for the brothers. Dean sat in the corner farthest away from him – which made Castiel wonder if he still smelled bad, or wait, wasn’t he supposed to smell good for Dean? Was Dean keeping his distance because he smelled too good? That thought made something flicker inside of him – and Sam took a seat on the other end of the couch, so he was sitting between his brother and Castiel.

After an awkward silence during which Castiel tried to look at anything else than Dean and Dean just fiddled with his thumbs, Sam took the reins, “Okay, c’mon, we were supposed to get right to it, right?” he sighed and after neither Dean or Castiel took the hint to start talking instead of just trying to avoid each other’s eyes, he rolled his eyes and continued, “For fuck’s sake, you’re the alpha here Dean, act like it and take charge. I appreciate your submissiveness, but you’re the one that needs to do the actual talking, alright?!”

“Shut up Sammy” Dean mumbled, but straightened his back and with a stern look on his face turned his eyes to Castiel. “I’m still a bit fuzzy on the details of what Sam has told you, but for now there are things we need to know about you, and a fuck load of questions you probably have that need answers.” He said with a voice that meant business, and Castiel was torn between very much liking the new tone and hating it. “Now, our pack is the dominant pack in this region and according to our laws we should be made aware of all the weres living in the area. So how come there’s no mention of you anywhere?”

Castiel could see and feel what Sam had meant when he told him that alphas were leaders and in control of those lower in the pack hierarchy, Dean’s voice definitely had authority in it. That voice and tone combined with his ridiculous crush were making it hard to not lose himself in Dean’s smell and looks and climb into his lap to make the alpha lose the business-like demeanor. The Dean he had met before any of this werewolf crap was much nicer, and Castiel wanted to bring the relaxed, smiling Dean back.

“I’d tell you if I knew.” He huffed. “I thought it was already pretty clear that I have no idea what’s happening.”

“No signs of anything werewolfish in the past? No weird… cravings during full moon? Or nothing like heats? Fast healing? Hell, anything weird at all?” Dean asked and Castiel stopped.

“Wait. Cravings? During a full moon? What does that mean? You guys seriously wolf out and eat people like in the stories?” he managed to ask much more calmly than he thought he could. Sam had said that they were not monsters, but if they –

Sam huffed out a little laugh, though clearly not from amusement. “No, we don’t. We just get really close to our wolves at that time and want to, y’know, do wolf stuff more than usual. That does include hunting and eating meat, but not human meat, we’re not some wild animals.”

Letting out a sigh of relief that he didn’t even realize he was holding, Castiel gathered his thoughts and began to look through his past to see if there was anything weird in it that could point to being a werewolf.

“I can’t think of anything strange before this, no. I mean, I’ve always had a good immune system and once I broke an arm playing soccer and my friends told me that my mom had to have some kind of superpowers to have been able to fix it twice as fast as it took for their broken limbs to heal, but that’s all.”

That peaked Dean’s interest. “Your mom? Tell me about your family.”

“Well my mom’s a nurse and my dad was a writer before he passed away twenty-five years ago. I’ve got three older brothers and a big sister, but I’ve never noticed anything weird going on with any of them either.”

“Your last name’s Novak, right? What’re your parent’s names?”

“Becky, I mean Rebecca, and Charles, but he used to go by Chuck.”

“Sammy, either of those names ring a bell?”                

Sam appeared to think really hard for a minute, but then shook his head. “No, not really. There’s no one with those names in the area right now nor has there been for the past thirty years that I know of , I’ll need to check the registers for earlier notes.”

Castiel caught up with the brothers’ train of thought and let out a small laugh. “Wait, you’re not seriously thinking that my parents – “

“It’s pretty logical if you think about.” Dean interrupted him. “You’re clearly at least a part of wolf, but you might not be entirely. When I first met you, I thought that you smelle good and kinda like family, but I didn’t think you were nothing more than an attractive, good-smelling human. (Castiel definitely did not blush at that. Definitely. Not.) But when I hugged you there was an unmistakable omega scent. That made no sense, but at least I know now why I felt so drawn to you right from the start” Dean said and stared out the window, as if he hadn’t just told Castiel that the attraction he had been feeling was mutual.

Castiel’s thoughts – which were now once again on the level of a teenage girl going _omg, I can’t believe he said that, he likes me! He likes likes me!_ \-  were interrupted when Sam agreed with Dean; “Yeah, and when you came home Friday night, I thought I smelled another omega.  A weak, unmated one, since your smell was so subdued. That’s why I asked you for help, but I was surprised when you turned out to be a human. I just thought that the pain was messing up my senses or something. And Bobby didn’t seem to notice anything weird when he picked me up either.”

“And you had your first heat like twenty years later than you should’ve if you were a healthy, normal omega. Your senses suddenly sharpened and god knows what else has changed, but I’d consider those big clues that you’re not exactly human nor a normal wolf.” Dean continued, still looking away from both Castiel and Sam, as if he was in deep thought. “The most reasonable explanation would be that there’s some werewolf in you somewhere somehow, and even if I’ve never heard of weres mating with humans and having pups, it seems logical to assume that your parents know something about it, doesn’t it?”

A silence ensued and finally Dean turned to look at Castiel. Who was sitting there frozen, mouth slightly open, staring at the wall opposite to him.

“Cas? You okay?”

“My mom, she, uhm, she called me on Sunday. And she was acting very strange. Now that I think about it, she seemed to know what was going on with me.”

But there was no way his mom would seriously know anything about werewolves, right? How could she, she was and always had been the stereotypical suburban home mom (and now, grandma). Sure, she was a bit overprotective and kept a close eye on her children, but that was normal human behavior right? And she was a nurse, so she always gave her children medical checks and stuff at home, that was just practical right? Unless she was trying to keep Castiel and his siblings from going to see doctor for a different reason, and that phone call two days prior was more than suspicious…

Crap, now Dean’s theory was starting to look like it could have something to it.

Was nothing safe and familiar anymore?

Castiel was brought out of his inner freak out by a hand on his shoulder. He focused on his surroundings and realized that Dean had moved from his seat on the couch and was now kneeling in front of him, holding his shoulder reassuringly. Which was great because now their eyes were nearly on the same level and he could once again wonder at the greenness and fire of those eyes, but not so great because Castiel still kind of wanted to show Dean what his heat had had in mind.

Hadn’t he just been thinking about the possibility of his mother knowing about werewolves and lying to him all of his life? Why did that seem like not that big of a deal when Dean was touching him?

Not only had he learned that he wasn’t who or what he had thought his entire life, he was also obsessed with a man who still was technically a complete stranger. Love at first sight? That shit wasn’t real. This had to be some form of a mental illness or something.

“Cas, man, you alright? I know this is a lot to take in, but it’s not the end of the world.” Dean tried to comfort him and gave him a little smile.

Since Dean was suddenly everything Castiel could think about, he quietly asked what he had been wondering, “What’s going on with me, why am I… is this some alpha-omega thing?”

Dean’s smile faltered when he realized what Castiel was referring to and he turned his eyes to the floor. “Yeah, okay, this is the awkward, cliché part of this conversation.”

 

\---x-x-x---

 

“Sam already told you about alphas, betas, and omegas, right?” Dean asked and looked at Sam over his shoulder. Sam nodded and Dean returned his attention to Castiel.

“Yeah, well, what we have going on here, this whole attraction thing which apparently is very mutual–“ he said with a relieved smirk, had he been worried that Castiel didn’t feel it? “We’re suitable to be mates, almost like… like we were made for each other or some crap.”

“Some call it being trues mates, or what you humans refer to as soul mates,“ Sam quipped from the couch and earned a glare from Dean. “What? Just because you won’t admit being the romantic that you are, I can still say it.”

“Okay, some people might see it like that” Dean said and there was a slight blush on his cheeks. “But what it is, is our wolves being in perfect sync and that does usually point out that were compatible both biologically and... well, y’know, in every way. The feeling of needing to be together and protect each other and, and, well, the need to mate - all that crap sort of comes from our wolves, who know that we’re supposed to be mates.” After a quiet moment to let Castiel process everything that had been said, he continued “the feelings are at their strongest now that you’ve just had your first heat and we’ve just met, but they’ll never really go away.”

After everything else that Castiel had learned last night and today, this tidbit didn’t actually shock him that much in comparison, but still the whole concept of soul mates made him skeptical. He didn’t believe in that sort of thing, soul mates and love at first sight? Not a real thing. Admittedly people might feel physical attraction when they see someone for the first time and then that feeling might deepen into love with time, but in his mind there was no way people could feel that deeply connected just by looking at a stranger. When he had met Dean, he had been mostly shocked that a stranger barged into his apartment. After the initial shock he had found Dean to be nice company, and found him sexually desirable, but he couldn’t really say that he had felt like he had fallen in love with him.

But during his heat and after it Dean had been on his mind almost constantly. Everything Dean had said or done had affected him much more strongly than he’d like to admit, and now that Dean still had his hand in his shoulder, he wasn’t even panicking about the possibility of his parents being werewolves.

Dean’s closeness just felt natural and right. Like he was made to be with him.

And that thought was probably the scariest thing that had happened to him since all of this weirdness started.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you're reading these notes, I guess you read the first chapter to the end! Thank you!


End file.
